My parenting fail: Watching Netflix’s Wednesday with my kids
Rebecca on Oct. 24, 2024
As we approach Halloween season, there’s the temptation to tune in to scary movies and series for family movie nights. That was my first mistake.
Wednesday, is a horror series on Netflix starring Jenna Ortega, Christina Ricci, Catherine Zeta-Jones and it’s been out since late 2022. After hearing friends had watched it, and enjoyed it, with their preteens I thought the time might finally be right for me to suggest it for our whānau weekly TV night, which also happens to fall on a Wednesday. (Monday is anything goes night, Tuesday is game night, Thursday is no screens night, Friday is movie night)
I fondly remember watching The Addams Family TV show with my family as a child. So without much further research or reading I suggested we watch episode one.
Wednesday, season one, is self-rated by Netflix M with offensive language and violence.
Now I should know better! An M age rating means suitable for ages 16 years and older. And despite my friend’s opinion that it was fun and suitable for her children that doesn’t mean it’s readily suitable for my children.
If I had gone back and read the Office’s content breakdown I would have been forewarned that within the first 10 minute of the episode we see Wednesday drop a bag of piranhas into the school pool to attack the water polo team. We see the water turn red as the camera closes in on a character under attack by the flesh-eating fish as they try to escape the pool. Now we’ve had mixed success with swim lessons in our household. Did I need another reason for them to be scared of the water?! No!
Later we see the gored body of a hiker in the woods who was clearly attacked by an animal or otherworldly creature. I’ve been wanting the kids to join us on more bush walks. Did I need another excuse for them to not want to go for a walk in nature?! No!
So here we are half way through the episode and my youngest is watching the show with his blanket pulled up to his eyeballs and my oldest is riveted to the screen. I can see the trauma happening before my eyes. We were in too far, the damage was done.
For the remainder of the episode we’d cover the youngest’s eyes and block his ears if something was to be too scary, and we constantly checked in with him whether he was doing ok.
By the end of the eventful episode, my husband looked to me and suggested next time let’s watch it after the youngest has gone to bed...
And my advice? Search Find a Rating before you press play. Know your line, know your rating. Just because it’s trending or popular with kids doesn’t mean its okay for everyone.
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